


we are fighting dreamers

by fifteen_half



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 03:26:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17655179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fifteen_half/pseuds/fifteen_half
Summary: Jeno and Jaemin, as well as the rest of the Dreamies, as shinobi.





	we are fighting dreamers

**Author's Note:**

> i was reading a bunch of kakairu fics and thought that nomin would perfectly fit those roles. except i could’t make jeno an ass so he’s just very overprotective :)

jeno is a child prodigy and is both feared and awed by civilians and shinobi alike and jaemin is a teacher at the shinobi academy.   
  
whenever jeno is asked which shinobi he fears the most, he shudders and whispers, “na jaemin” as if saying the name would summon a devil.   
  
those who don’t know jeno find this strange, for na jaemin is simply a teacher far below jeno’s rank. their friends, however, understand this completely, because not only did the two grow up together, jaemin knows more about jeno than jeno himself.   
  
“all that blackmail material he has,” jeno would say, whenever his friends tease him about being weak around the young teacher, “i won’t win. i won’t.”   
  
jaemin, in turn, befuddles most people he meets.

on the outside he is soft and sweet and full of affection. but threaten one of his students and he becomes a literal monster. 

jaemin may not be an accomplished shinobi, but he is extremely clever and can fully utilize the skills he has. many higher ranked shinobi loves to spar with the young teacher for they never know what to expect in the fight. 

he also isn’t afraid to speak his mind when he knows he’s right, even to those of higher rank than him. and while this earns him the ire of some, this has also earned him the respect of most of his peers.   
  
jeno in particular, loves watching his best friend lecture commanding officers whenever the need calls for it. he absolutely loves watching these powerful figures leave with their head bent and their literal tails tucked in between their legs.   
  
“you’re pretty amazing, jaemin ah. i don’t think i can do half the things you do.”

“well, i am pretty amazing,” jaemin laughs, amused, “you’re so lucky you have me.”   
  
“i am,” jeno wholeheartedly agrees, “i am very lucky to have you.”   
  
and he is. jeno can’t imagine what he’d be like without jaemin.   
  
jeno isn’t the only prodigy in the village. and whenever he works with them, jeno can’t help the pity that he feels for them.   
  
because most of them have become nothing more than machines, ready to do anything their orders tell them to do. their eyes hold no spark, no joy for life, nothing. and jeno... jeno could’ve been one of them without jaemin by his side.   
  
jeno’s parents are so very grateful to the younger man for this very reason. they also treat him much better than their actual son, which jaemin likes to take advantage of whenever he can’t make jeno do something. like stop taking on missions to at least rest for a bit. because while jeno’s loyalty to the village is true, he is loyal to it only because everyone he loves is there. and the thought of their lives being threatened always spurns jeno into action. nevermind if his body gets cut to ribbons, if he gets so tired he could barely walk. nevermind the amount of times he needs to be hospitalized. if it means he could protect those he loves, then it is worth it.

it is jaemin who always reminds him that he is someone’s precious person too. and that there are a lot of people who don’t want him to sacrifice his life for their sake.   
  
jaemin always manages to calm his frenzy. another reason why his parents are so fond of his best friend.

their life continues on this way. until another child prodigy gets assigned in jeno’s team and mark, their captain, pulls jeno aside one day and asks him if he could watch out for jisung.   
  
because jisung is starting to become like the other prodigies, starting to become like a machine. and out of everyone in the team, jeno’s the only one who understands this, so could you please look over him?   
  
jeno gives mark a disgruntled look and tells him straight out that he would never understand the other prodigies because he had jaemin from the very beginning.

“i don’t know how they think,” jeno explains, “jaemin was always there to knock some sense in me so... sorry, hyung. i don’t think i can change jisung.”

but then mark gets that look in his eyes. smiling, he asks, “well then, what about jaemin?”   
  
jeno couldn’t help but glare at his captain, “what about jaemin?” he practically growls, “i don’t want him near ticking time bombs like jisung!”   
  
but mark is already used to jeno’s overprotective tendencies when it comes to his best friend, and so he brushes jeno off, already trying to think of ways for the two to meet.   
  
haechan, the team’s medic, drapes an arm around a fuming jeno’s shoulder and grins amusedly, “a whirlwind versus a ticking time bomb. who do you think will win?”   
  
“i don’t care about that! park jisung is not going near jaemin!”   
  
haechan, who is also used to jeno, simply rolls his eyes at his teammate, “i honestly don’t know what’s got you so riled up. jaemin will absolutely decimate jisung.”   
  
“you don’t know that!” jeno rants, “and jaemin doesn’t need another stray in his life!!”   
  
both mark and haechan snort at that.

because jaemin does have the tendency to adopt strays. case in point, huang renjun and zhong chenle.

the two were part of a group of foreign shinobi and civilians looking for refuge after a civil war. as part of the old regime, they would’ve been hunted and killed had they stayed.   
  
they were a broken people. their home, identities and purpose brutally taken away from them. even now they had no choice but to submit under the village lord’s rule in exchange for sanctuary.   
  
jaemin had been chosen to be part of the group in charge of helping the refugees and ensuring that no foul play would happen. as a teacher, jaemin was assigned to teach the children and to help them adjust easier.   
  
(jeno joked the real purpose was brainwash, to ensure that the children would grow up loyal to the village. jaemin had given him a black-eye for that.)

as jaemin taught and helped in constructing new homes, he had gotten to know the most of the refugees and was well-liked by them.

(jeno joked jaemin had used a bloodline limit on the poor refugees, given how charmed they were when jaemin was the devil incarnate. jaemin had very nearly burned jeno for that.)

zhong chenle, the previous lord’s son, and huang renjun, the only remaining shinobi of the clan that served the lord’s family, were the two that jaemin got to know the most. they were the most broken but their people needed them and so, true to his nature, jaemin had lectured them both.

chenle had broken down then, had said all his fears, how he didn’t know what to do, he was the youngest son of the lord, he was never supposed to lead, what do you expect me to do?!

renjun had nearly killed jaemin then, but jaemin had calmed chenle down and told him that he wasn’t alone, that there were those who would support him, teach him. that though he may never reclaim his title back or their village but, as the lord’s son, he could at least ensure that his people would have a future.

those words lit the fire back in chenle and renjun, begrudgingly, had to refrain from murder.

(respect was also given that day, but renjun would die before telling jaemin that. renjun suspects jaemin knows anyway and was just waiting for renjun to say it, that little shit.)

jaemin has since adopted the two, or they adopted him, and now it isn’t unusual to find the six of them having a meal somewhere. because where jaemin is, jeno would follow (and vice versa) and jeno’s teammates, mark and haechan, had no one else aside from each other and jeno, influenced by his best friend, sort of adopted his teammates as well.   
  
now that jisung is here, well.

child prodigies who had killed too early were usually unstable or extremely misinformed about how society works. jeno understands mark’s concern, because no one has a bigger heart than his captain, but he is also afraid of jisung messing up what they had built.

his misgivings are proven true when jisung insults jaemin upon introduction and manages to insult chenle too, thereby insulting renjun. renjun is actually a very powerful shinobi, and if it hadn’t been for the combined effort of jeno, jaemin, haechan and mark, jisung would have ended up hospitalized.

“i only said the truth,” jisung explains without any hint of remorse or feeling, “na jaemin is weak. and zhong chenle is pathetic. how did he let someone take what is his? why do i need to associate myself with such people?”

their meals are halted because renjun refuses to go near jisung. jaemin is petty on most days and so he stays away. haechan can barely contain his irritation with how stubborn jisung is. and mark had gotten antsy for believing they could change jisung.

jeno hates what is happening, how he can see their little family breaking apart, but unlike what he told mark, jeno could understand jisung a little.

child prodigies are always put under a lot of pressure. as they are called to mission at such a young age, they grow up knowing only that. how failure means death, how being strong is the only way to survive. that all the things that make you weak must be discarded.   


and of course jaemin would appear weak in jisung’s eyes. of course chenle would be pathetic for jisung.

and so jeno talks to jisung. jisung refuses to listen at first but not only is jeno ranked higher, he is stronger as well, and jisung respects that.   
  
jeno tells him of real strength, of their real purpose as shinobi. and just so it would get to jisung jeno shows him what he means.

he shows him how happy the civilians are, for they know that are protected within these walls, that  _ jisung _ is the reason why these people can thrive like this.

he shows him the refugee camp, tells him that they were once so broken, but now is beginning to flourish under chenle’s command even though chenle had lost more than anyone else.

then he shows him jaemin at the academy, makes him listen to the lesson jaemin is giving.

“teach us cooler moves, ssaem! i wanna be super strong!”   
  
“cooler moves won’t make you strong, seunghwan. this,” he says, pointing at his heart, “is what makes you strong.”   
  
looking straight at the eyes of each of his students, jaemin says, “taking lives is not a shinobi’s purpose. our purpose is to protect. and if you make the mission your purpose, what happens when there is no mission left? not all of our shinobi think this way, but the shinobi you look up to? if you ask them, they will say the same thing.

“that they became strong because they want to protect the village, because they love the village and the people in it. shinobi aren’t just tools. we are people too. so never be afraid to love because that is what makes us human.”

“but ssaem, what if there’s no one?”

the smile that jaemin gives that student, whose parents were killed during a mission, was so very tender, “there will always be someone, eunjin. they may be difficult to find, or may not look like it at first, but they’re there. all we need to do is listen.”

jisung goes away quickly after that. jeno lets him. jaemin though, looks straight at jeno through his window, and affectionately rolls his eyes at his best friend.

jeno doesn’t expect jisung to change right away, but the a few days after chenle is there, yapping away at a frazzled looking jisung.

“he apologized a few days ago,” renjun explains, “then chenle made him help out and then he just kept on coming back. i think chenle thinks he’s a cute pet or something. i don’t know. i stopped trying to understand what goes on in chenle’s head a long time ago. i still hate him though,” the shinobi says, although his eyes are fond when he watches the two youngest interact, “he’s more annoying than jaemin.”

“who’s more annoying than me?” jaemin appears suddenly, like calling his name summons him from whatever depth of hell he’s been in. 

jeno says this out loud and earns him a hard hit on the back of his head from jaemin.

“i cook for you, heal your wounds when you’re being stubborn and refuse to go to the hospital. i cover for you when you do something stupid. i laugh at your corny jokes and this is how you repay me?? fuck off, lee jeno! find yourself another best friend! i quit! i’m done! we’re through!”   
  
as jeno latches on to jaemin to make the younger stop hating on him, mark, haechan, renjun and chenle all simultaneously sigh. jisung looks at them in surprised confusion.   
  
“when do you think they’ll realize?” mark asks.   
  
“they’re so oblivious it’s irritating!” haechan grumbles.   
  
“i could trap them with an earth jutsu. make them talk,” renjun muses.

“maybe we should do something about it,” chenle adds, already thinking.

lost, jisung asks, “do something about what?”   
  
“jeno and jaemin.”   
  
“what about jeno and jaemin hyung?”   
  
haechan raises a brow at jisung, “now you’re calling jaemin ‘hyung’?”   
  
jisung blushes, “he can cook. really well. but what about them?”   
  
mark ruffles jisung’s hair, amused, “i don’t know guys. maybe it’s too early for jisung.”   
  
“yeah, jisung is still a baby,” chenle agrees, nodding seriously.   
  
just before jisung could protest, jeno and jaemin walk past them, still shouting at each other.

“i’m not gonna cook for you anymore!”

“what?? you haven’t cooked for me lately anyway!”   
  
“oh, so now i’m the bad guy? i cooked samgyupsal for you, you forgetful idiot!! renjun said it was tasty!”   
  
“i want soy sauce egg fried rice, jaem!! soy sauce egg fried rice!!”

“you—!! meat is healthier, lee jeno! do you want to get sick??”

“but i want soy sauce egg fried rice, jaemin ah!”   
  
mark, haechan, renjun and chenle all sigh again.   
  
“oh,” jisung suddenly says. then he gets a glint in his eyes that is almost playful, human.

mark and haechan look at each other, smiling at their success. they had been able to save jisung after all.

chenle interrupts the moment, “ugh, they’re so annoying! they’re so disgustingly in love it’s both irritating and fascinating to watch how oblivious they both are!”

“it hasn’t been a year since we came here,” renjun says, “but even i recognize the signs.”

mark shrugs, “they’re both stupid. and you can’t cure that.”   
  
haechan nods, “dumb and dumber.”   
  
“that’s you and mark, right?” jaemin says, appearing out of nowhere again.

jeno appears right behind him, “yeah, both of you are so stupid.”

“YOU’RE the dumb ones here, idiots!” haechan yells, blushing furiously and refusing to look at their captain, “come here so i can bash your heads together!!”   
  
as chenle laughs at jeno and jaemin being chased by haechan, mark and renjun sigh.   
  
“i can’t believe i’m surrounded by idiots.”   
  
renjun gives mark a look.   
  
“i,” he says with emphasis, “should be the one saying that.”   
  
mark had the audacity to look confused.   
  
renjun shakes his head in despair, “idiots! all of you!!”

**Author's Note:**

> depending on the response, i may continue writing in this verse. like what could happen between chenle and jisung, mark and haechan. maybe even include lucas for renjun. so let me know what you think!


End file.
